The Pardoner's prologue continued

We started the lesson with a close look at the part of the prologue we had already read, identifying descriptions of material things within the text, these are some of what we found:
-Bulles
-Crystal stones
-Cloth

After this, we read the rest of the pardoner's prologue annotating as we went along, establishing that the pardoner is hypocritical and cold; he campaigns against the love of money but also is in love with money, and he doesn't care where it comes from:

'I wol have moneie, wolle, chese, and whete,
Al were it yeven of the povereste page,
Or of the povereste widwe in a village,
Al sholde hir children sterve for famine.'
(162-165)

The Pardoner will stop at nothing to get money, and doesn't think twice of shaming widows into paying for pardons.

We also identified two references to snakes, perhaps suggesting that the Pardoner is devil-like, due to the biblical reference that he talks 'venom' and stings with his tongue:

'For whan I dar noon oother weyes debate,
Thanne wol I stynge hym with my tonge smerte'
(126-127)

'Thus quyte I folk that doon us displeasances;
Thus spitte I out my venym under hewe
Of hoolynesse, to semen hooly and trewe.'
(134-136)

After reading the rest of the prologue, we separated into groups and discussed imagery and irony within the Pardoner's prologue. (If you want the sheet, you can probably get it from Mrs Bulbeck)

The class generally had trouble with the definition of irony, due to its numerous applications into real life. The dictionary definition of irony in literature is:

'A technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.'

For example, in Oedipus the king, Oedipus searches for the murderer of the King of Thebes, when it is in fact himself who had committed the murder.

We identified points of irony from the Pardoner's prologue, for example:

'What, trowe ye, that whiles I may preche,
And wynne gold and silver for I teche,
That I wol lyve in poverte wilfully?'
(153-155)

The irony in this statement is that, as a Pardoner, he is obliged to live in poverty.

The homework for the lesson is the essay:
How does Chaucer establish the character of the Pardoner in the portrait and his prologue?

This is intended to be done in 100 minutes as it is cover for lesson on Friday, as it is teacher's training day. due in for the next lesson, which is Tuesday.